Monday, April 22, 2013

HUMOUR IN UNIFORM - ARMY SENSE OF HUMOR

Disclaimer:
Please read this only if you have a sense of humour. This is a spoof. So first
convince yourself that you have a sense of humour and only then read the yarn
and have a laugh.

I thought the Navy was
witty, but I must say that the army has a great sense of humour.

I have seen many
recruitment advertisements with catchy slogans aimed at attracting the right
kind of youth to a career in the Defence Services (Army Navy and Air Force).

When we were students the
most popular army recruitment advertisement had a rather prosaic yet effective
slogan which appealed to your patriotic sentiment:

JOIN THE ARMY AND SERVE THE NATION

This simple
slogan made it very clear what type of officers and soldiers the army was
looking for.

The army
wanted to attract youth inspired with a sense of patriotism – young men who
wanted to dedicate their lives in the service of the nation.

In those “good
old days” an army officer was required to put service before self and live up to the Chetwode Motto:

“The safety, honour and welfare
of your Country come first, always and every time.

The honour, welfare and comfort
of the men you command come next.

Your own ease, comfort and safety
come last always and every time”

And so the army recruitment slogan was in sync with this paramount
OLQ requirement.

( OLQ is the acronym for “Officer Like Qualities” )

The Navy had its own slogans too.

Those days a
popular navy recruitment advertisement had the slogan:

JOIN THE NAVY AND SEE THE WORLD

(Now
you know why I preferred the navy to the army, though in hindsight I realize
that I have hardly seen much of the world especially in comparison to my
merchant mariner son who has travelled round the globe sailing across all oceans
and seas and seeing all continents)

Recruitment advertisements
were designed depending on what type of person the army wanted to attract to
recruit as an officer or a soldier.

The recruitment slogan
encapsulates in a nutshell the cardinal OLQ (“Officer Like Quality”) desired at
that point of time.

Thus, the slogan “Join the Army and Serve the Nation”
clearly implied that patriotism was the most important OLQ.

OLQ (or what are
considered “Officer Like Qualities”) keep changing as the army ethos and value
system tries to keep in tune with the changing social culture and situational ethics.

Accordingly, as the concept
of OLQ changed from time to time, in order to attract the matching type of youth
to join the army, the army came up with a variety of recruitment slogans emphasizing
on and appealing to different human sentiments – adventure, bravery,
masculinity, honesty, sacrifice, social status, quality of life, sports and
recreation facilities, salary and perks, financial security, material benefits etc

Yes, with the progress of
time, change in ethos and value system is inevitable and the meaning of OLQ too
will accordingly change to keep in sync with social mores.

Like I said, I thought the
navy was witty, but I was stunned when I came across this bizarre army recruitment
slogan:

IF YOU WANT TO HAVE BEAUTIFUL AND SUCCESSFUL
DAUGHTERS JOIN INDIAN ARMY

I chanced upon this gem of
wit on twitter. It was a photograph of a hoarding apparently carrying an army
recruitment advertisement. The advertisement had pictures of Bollywood Actors
and Celebrities, who are daughters of army officers, with a caption that reads:
“If you want to have beautiful and
successful daughters, join Indian Army”.

Some persons had clicked snapshots
and photos of the hoarding featuring this colourful army recruitment
advertisement and uploaded the pictures on social networking sites like
Facebook and Twitter and soon this picture had gone viral on twitter.

In due course, this was
picked up by the mainstream media and duly reported in newspapers and TV news
channels.

There are many reasons to
join the Army, but this one takes the cake: “Join the Army if you want to have
beautiful and successful daughters?” – what a fascinating and incredible
reason!

I wonder what type of
officer material the army is trying to attract and what is the new meaning of
the term OLQ?

Well, I have not seen this
advertisement myself, so I will not post it here. You may have seen it (and
read about it) in the mainstream media or on the social media or on the internet.

If you haven’t, here is are some links to reports and picture of the
advertisement in the mainstream media (click the links below which will open in a new window):

(And hey, after seeing the pictures and reading the news-reports, please remember to come back
here and continue reading my blog)

No part of this Blog may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Blog Author Vikram Karve who holds the copyright.

A creative person with a zest for life, Vikram Karve is a retired Naval Officer turned full time writer and blogger. Educated at IIT Delhi, IIT (BHU) Varanasi, The Lawrence School Lovedale and Bishops School Pune, Vikram has published two books: COCKTAIL a collection of fiction short stories about relationships (2011) and APPETITE FOR A STROLL a book of Foodie Adventures (2008) and is currently working on his novel and a book of vignettes and an anthology of short fiction. An avid blogger, he has written a number of fiction short stories and creative non-fiction articles on a variety of topics including food, travel, philosophy, academics, technology, management, health, pet parenting, teaching stories and self help in magazines and published a large number of professional and academic research papers in journals and edited in-house journals and magazines for many years, before the advent of blogging. Vikram has taught at a University as a Professor for 15 years and now teaches as a visiting faculty and devotes most of his time to creative writing and blogging. Vikram Karve lives in Pune India with his family and muse - his pet dog Sherry with whom he takes long walks thinking creative thoughts.

About Me

A creative person with a zest for
life, Vikram Karve is a retired Naval Officer turned full time writer. Educated
at IIT Delhi, IIT (BHU) Varanasi, The Lawrence School Lovedale and Bishops School
Pune, Vikram has published two books:COCKTAILa collection of fiction short stories about relationships
(2011) andAPPETITE FOR A STROLLa
book of Foodie Adventures (2008) and is currently working on his novel, writing short fiction and compiling his memoirs. An avid
blogger, he has written a number of fiction short stories, creative
non-fiction articles on a variety of topics including food, books, travel, philosophy, academics, technology, management, health, pet parenting, teaching stories, self help and art of living essays in magazines and journals and published a number of professional research papers and reviews and edited in-house magazines and journals for many years, before the advent
of blogging. Vikram has taught at a University as a Professor for 15 years and now teaches as a visiting faculty and devotes most of his time to
creative writing and blogging. Vikram Karve lives in Pune India with his family and muse -
his pet dog Sherry with whom he takes long walks thinking creative
thoughts.